For the first time in 28 years, Australia has a new best-selling vehicle in the mid-size segment, and for the first time it is also electric.
Tesla ended the 28-year winning streak for the perennial favourite Toyota Camry in the segment, overtaking the fossil fuel powered family sedan with 10,855 sales of the Model 3.
The Camry, for its sake, had a total of 9,538 vehicles sold.
In the electric car segment, Tesla is the clubhouse leader.
With Hyundai, BYD, MG and Polestar all playing catch-up in a segment that saw a 549 per cent increase in year-over-year sales.
However, even with that massive sales surge, electric cars only made up 3.1 per cent of total vehicle sales in the country.
But interestingly, BYD is the third best-selling vehicle in the electric segment.
This is a surprise, as the company only started delivering vehicles in September and had to pause deliveries for three weeks.
Here are the top ten electric vehicles in terms of overall 2022 numbers via Drive Australia.
| Model | Sales |
| Tesla Model 3 | 10877 |
| Tesla Model Y | 8717 |
| BYD Atto 3 | 2113 |
| Polestar 2 | 1524 |
| MG ZS EV | 1119 |
| Hyundai Kona | 1096 |
| Volvo XC40 Recharge Pure Electric | 983 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 756 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQA | 624 |
| BMW iX3 | 593 |
We should note that the BYD Atto 3 was firmly in second place for sales in December, which could make for an interesting 2023.
Tesla will have the Model Y and Model 3, while BYD will have the Atto 3, Dolphin and Seal, all competing for the top spot in Australia this year.
